Jeff Bridges says he helped rewrite the “Iron Man” script, and we’re intrigued
The first Iron Man is a hugely important movie for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After all, if it had flopped, the MCU as we know it would not exist. Now, it looks like we have Jeff Bridges to thank for more than just his performance as bad guy Obadiah Stane. In fact, Bridges says he helped rewrite the Iron Man script. The actor, whose recent beard-shaving turned our heads, is multi-talented, sure. But we didn’t know he wrote superhero flicks in his downtime. Yet without his interference, we might not be obsessing about the Avengers, or the Infinity Wars. (At least, not ones on film.)
It does kind of make sense, especially the way Bridges explains it. He recently did the Hollywood Reporter’s Actor Roundtable, and spoke about the experience.
“Iron Man — we read the script, and it wasn’t really right, you know? We had two weeks’ rehearsal, and we basically rewrote the script.”
That “we” refers to Bridges, along with director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey, Jr. The trio sensed something wrong in the script. They also knew more than just this film could be at stake. So, they started fixing the script.
Bridges continues, “And the day before we were going to shoot, we get a call from the Marvel guy, saying, ‘Oh, no, no, no. None of this is right.’ So we would muster in my trailer and rehearse while the guys were in the studio tapping their foot, saying, ‘When are they going to come?’ We were still trying to figure out the [scenes] we were going to shoot.”
It’s kind of crazy to think about how different that initial Iron Man script might have been. If Favreau, Bridges, and Downey, Jr. hadn’t stepped in, there’s a chance the MCU might be totally different.
Mind = blown.
Luckily, the group did tinker with the Iron Man script. It’s a solid film that still holds up, nearly a decade later. Plus, it built the foundation for all the Marvel superhero movie goodness we’ve had since then. We’ll be saying a silent “thank you” to Jeff Bridges when we attend Marvel movies for years to come.
